What Workers Want
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What Workers Want: A Worldwide Study of Attitudes to Work and Work-Life Balance
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Foreword
This report represents the findings of the first study carried out by FDS International in conjunction with its partners in IriS, a global network of independent market research agencies. FDS replaced MORI as the UK representative in the IriS Network in July 2006. We are delighted to have been able to see one of the core principles of the Network realised in this study – ‘be global, think local’ in terms of delivering cost-effective, in-depth research on international markets while analysing and appreciating local requirements.
a number of clients within the UK including British Gas, Transport for London, Department for Work and Pensions, Identity and Passport Service and BT. This research demonstrates our wider capability, with our IriS partners to provide valuable insight on an international scale. It also demonstrates how we approach research projects, adding context and secondary sources to help enhance the insight gained from the findings.
FDS International has an excellent track record in undertaking employee research for
Charlotte Cornish Managing Director FDS International
We hope that through reading the following pages you gain greater insight into both UK and international workers attitudes to work today. There are claims made that the whole concept of ‘work-life balance’ is dead – as this study shows, try telling that to a Norwegian!
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We hope that you enjoy reading this report; indeed, that you find it useful. Should you want further information about this study in particular, or the wider capabilities of FDS International as a full-service market research provider, please contact me on +44 (0)20 7272 7766 or e-mail [email protected]
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Contents Introduction
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Theme 1: What makes for employee satisfaction?
5
Theme 2: Ranking of employee morale
11
Theme 3: Differentiating attitudes to work-life balance
15
Theme 4: Workers’ problems around the globe – the difference between retention and recruitment
20
About FDS International
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5
15 11
20
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Introduction Lucy Kellaway the FT journalist, has written a provocative forecast in The Economist ‘World in 2007’ report. In it she says that the idea of work-life balance is ‘one of the most pernicious and widespread of all the ideas of flexible working. The phrase not only spawned a thousand conferences but also created false expectations among workers, and encouraged companies to be disingenuous about what they wanted (which was really for everyone to work as hard as possible).’
While it is true that the global marketplace has impacted on the UK workplace so that what we find today is one that has changed out of all recognition from that of 10, or even 5 years ago. We do not believe, however, that the power has swung away from the employee to the employer. Indeed, increasing competition from overseas, increasing worker migration, alongside changes in attitudes to ‘a job for life’ and an increasing emphasis on personal development and transferable skills, have all impacted on the competition between employers for good employees. It is harder than ever to recruit the best and
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retain the good.
This important study answers vital questions for all employers today – which aspects of employees’ working lives are most important for overall job satisfaction? How important is satisfaction with pay? How important is the working environment? And how important is work-life balance? Our hope is that the results from this study will provide a platform for a more ‘balanced’ discussion of the important issues behind worker satisfaction and help employers in their quest to find and retain the best employees. FDS International has conducted analyses of data collected in the second half of 2006 from 13,832 employees aged 18+ in 23 countries around the world. The research was conducted by members of IriS, the global research group, of which FDS International is the UK member. Please find further details of IriS and FDS International on the inside back cover.
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Theme 1 What makes for employee satisfaction?
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A previous international study, using the World Values Survey (WVS), has indicated that a shift takes place, as societies become more affluent and the nature of employment changes, from a focus on extrinsic work values (pay, working hours – the benefits a job has for the employees’ life outside of work), to a focus on intrinsic work values (the quality of the work itself).
Some researchers have questioned the validity of the extrinsic/intrinsic rewards dichotomy, and suggested that more complex schema are necessary to understand employee motivation. This is certainly a wellresearched area. However, few academic studies (aside from the WVS) occupy the international range of this research study, which represents a broad spectrum of countries in the developed world, in terms of geography, industrial structures, and income levels so although our measures are relatively simple by academic standards, and we do not attempt more than a passing reference to the large body of theory and research in this area, we believe that our recent research can make a useful contribution to the understanding of what constitutes job satisfaction and how this varies internationally. Top six predictors for job satisfaction Let’s begin with our first question. At a ‘global’ level, what makes for job satisfaction?
The results here may surprise – the list below sets out in order, where 1 is the most important, the factors most closely associated with overall job satisfaction:
1: (the strongest predictor of overall job satisfaction): Opportunities to do an interesting job 2: Recognition for your performance
3: Balance between private life and worklife 4: Prospects for advancement 5: Job security
6: (the weakest predictor of overall job satisfaction): Your salary/payment.
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A remarkable result! At a global level, pay is the least good predictor of job satisfaction. Furthermore, as we’ll see below, it does not constitute the most important predictor in any of the countries in our survey. While items 4 and 5 in our ranking are somewhat ambiguous in terms of the extrinsic/intrinsic reward dichotomy, it is clear enough that it is intrinsic rewards that matter most, at a ‘global’ level.
The broad message to employers is clear – the opportunity to do something interesting at work is what matters most for overall job satisfaction. Investing in skills development, promoting initiative and creativity, and inclusivity in strategic decision-making would appear to make for a happier workforce than simply jacking up wage levels. At first glance, this might be just what employers want to hear! But this result should not be taken to mean that token measures will suffice to replace wage increases – making all employees’ jobs more interesting presents a very different, and hugely more complex and nuanced, challenge for employers.
Furthermore, while wage increases for existing staff may not be effective ‘in and of themselves’, for many, wage increases are the language of recognition – the second most important factor in employee satisfaction. To put it more colloquially, ‘money talks’. And it must be remembered that pay rises have a symbolic as well as an economic value. And lastly, we must remember that the dynamics of recruitment are very different from the dynamics of retention.
On the following page, our table sets out the variations in levels of correlation between various measures and overall job satisfaction between the countries in our study. As we’ll see, we find universal confirmation of the idea that salary is not ‘where it’s at’ – but also intriguing variations in the most important components of job satisfaction.
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Table: Predictors of overall job satisfaction, by country and country group (Pearson’s Correlations) – most important factor is highlighted in yellow for each country Country
advancement
interesting job
recognition
Brazil
0.369
0.401
0.444
Australia
0.495
0.585
Canada
0.409
0.561
Germany
0.279
0.566
France
0.268
0.412
Greece
0.398
0.300
Japan
0.468
0.592
Ireland Korea China
Poland
Portugal
Romania Russia Spain
0.392 0.299 0.358 0.293 0.234
0.308 0.256
0.257
0.454 0.259 0.344 0.586 0.136
0.359 0.414
0.286
salary
work life balance
job security
0.459
0.377
0.348
0.377
0.476
0.275
0.343
0.294
0.333 0.490 0.394 0.362 0.554 0.129 0.326 0.494 0.226 0.352 0.387 0.358
0.371 0.177 0.268 0.330 0.152 0.432 0.251 0.422 0.296 0.225 0.300 0.298 0.270
0.374 0.254 0.356 0.300 0.310 0.489 0.171 0.416 0.455 0.273 0.366 0.222 0.321
0.340 0.141 0.310 0.379 0.417 0.540 0.429 0.583 0.300 0.149 0.166 0.211
0.306
Switzerland
0.201
0.422
0.242
0.097
0.242
0.129
The Netherlands
0.286
0.383
0.410
0.211
0.253
0.301
USA
0.416
0.537
0.466
0.341
0.443
0.414
Thailand UK
Norway
Sweden
0.260
0.366 0.237
0.315
0.386
0.386 0.496
0.688
0.140 0.375 0.333 0.296
0.251 0.232 0.124 0.055
0.397 0.414 0.192 0.337
0.410 0.283 0.180 0.381
Denmark
0.240
0.508
0.426
0.128
0.267
0.142
Scandinavian
0.270
0.575
0.346
0.105
0.273
0.239
Southern European
0.304
0.296
0.326
0.341
0.414
0.417
North American
0.413
Country Groups
Northern European 0.304
0.509
Central & Eastern European 0.288
0.452
South American
0.369
South & East Asian 0.525
UK & Ireland
0.384
0.549 0.401
0.529
0.414
0.428 0.422
0.471 0.444
0.462
0.380
0.260 0.303
0.307 0.371
0.473
0.205
0.353 0.355
0.392 0.374
0.440
0.388
0.284 0.226
0.354 0.340
0.549
0.326
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Variation by country
As we can see, while in 14/23 countries we find that ‘the opportunity to do an interesting job’ is the most important predictor of job satisfaction, in 9 of our countries this is not the case.
As the ‘country group’-level analysis shows, the exceptions to the rule may be summarised by noting that in South and East Asian countries, and in Southern European countries, job security appears to be more key to job satisfaction. This is something that coheres fairly well with our discussion of different cultures of work-life balance later on in this report – these countries tend to have a ‘work is life’ orientation. In Portugal, while job security is less important than in Spain and other southern European countries, having an interesting job is the least important factor, reflecting the ‘work is life’ orientation. In South American countries, ‘recognition’ appears as more important than ‘interesting job’. Top six predictors for job satisfaction in the UK The results in the UK are as follows:
1: (the strongest predictor of overall job satisfaction): Balance between private life and worklife 2: Opportunities to do an interesting job 3: Recognition for your performance 4: Prospects for advancement 5: Job security
6: (the weakest predictor of overall job satisfaction): Your salary/payment
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Work-life balance is the key predictor of job satisfaction in the UK. It is crucial for employees in the UK to feel they have control over their working life. We go on to unpack what this means to UK employees and how they compare with their global counterparts in the rest of this report. Top six predictors for job satisfaction by key demographic groups Before we look at work-life balance in more detail – a quick detour to highlight differences by gender and other demographic groups in the top six predictors. While none of these in themselves is surprising, it is interesting to see the stereotypes confirmed.
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Table: Predictors of overall job satisfaction, by demographic groups (Pearson’s Correlations) – key differences in the UK are highlighted in pink Gender
advancement
interesting job
recognition
Female
0.362
0.474
0.407
0.298
0.382
0.366
18-25
0.394
0.483
0.396
0.372
0.357
0.390
Male Age
0.364
0.486
0.415
salary
0.360
work life balance
0.397
job security
0.406
26-35
0.397
0.480
0.406
0.338
0.363
0.380
Over 45
0.336
0.479
0.423
0.305
0.392
0.402
36-45
Education level
0.357
0.478
0.412
0.328
0.426
0.373
Low
0.343
0.432
0.420
0.323
0.417
0.434
High
0.370
0.506
0.448
0.325
0.379
0.387
Non profit organisation
0.317
0.471
0.391
0.257
0.342
0.270
0.384
0.395
0.437
0.442
0.410
0.442
0.382
0.445
0.361
0.358
0.357
0.430
0.470
0.424
0.323
0.412
0.409
0.356
0.502
0.382
0.317
0.397
0.385
0.357
0.540
0.476
0.312
0.402
0.343
0.374
0.476
0.404
0.338
0.362
0.402
Medium Place of work Own/microbusiness (1-4 people)
Small business (5-19 people)
0.362
Medium business (20-99 people) 0.373 Large business (100-1,000 people)
Business over 1,000 people
Manual or non-manual worker Non-manual (ABC1)
Manual (C2DE)
0.356
0.471
0.471
0.369
0.396
0.340
0.322
0.396
0.439
0.374
0.392
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Money more important to men
Gender differences are not in fact great, except where pay is concerned. Men’s job satisfaction rests significantly more on their satisfaction with pay, and somewhat more on their job security. The tendency for men to maintain their ongoing role as primary providers in the household doubtless explains this.
Advocates of gender equality in working/caring roles will bemoan the ‘vicious circle’ that is at play here: women place less importance on their wages, and thus end up earning less, caring more, and continuing to rely on male partners to determine the household’s standard of living.
Recognition is more important for older workers
Younger workers’ job satisfaction is more dependent than older workers on opportunities for advancement and salary, while ‘recognition’ becomes more important as we go through our working lives. Educated workers want interesting jobs
More highly educated workers place greater importance on doing an interesting job, while less educated workers’ satisfaction lies more in work-life balance and job security. Perhaps not surprisingly, workers in nonprofit organisations have a strikingly different attitude to work than those in commercial outfits, being far less concerned with advancement, salary and security.
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Comparing smaller and larger businesses is also worthwhile – the importance of interesting work becomes more pronounced the larger the business an employee is working for. Perhaps this is explained by the kinds of drivers and worries that characterise life within smaller businesses. The smaller the business, the more important salary and job security become to overall job satisfaction. Lastly, work-life balance appears as more important to manual than non-manual workers, no doubt reflecting the lack of control that most manual workers, except the self-employed, have in their working life.
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Theme 2 Ranking of employee morale
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In Theme 1, we looked at overall job satisfaction and how this differed by country. In this section we develop this theme with additional variables to highlight differences in overall employee morale by country – we produce a ranking to highlight which countries’ employees have the best morale in the world.
We have divided the broad concept, ‘morale’, into three sub-categories; these, and their component questions, are set out below: Category One: Job satisfaction as outlined in Theme 1 This sub-index is intended to reflect the level of contentment that workers have with their jobs themselves. It is based on the same four measures as in Theme 1: • Satisfaction with prospects for advancement
• Satisfaction with ‘opportunities to do an interesting job’ • Satisfaction with pay
• Satisfaction with job security Category Two: Quality of employeremployee relationships
This sub-index is intended to reflect worker’s feelings about their employers and managers, and the degree to which they feel supported, and in turn support their management. It is based on three measures: • Extent to which workers trust decisions made by management
• Extent to which workers have faith in the strategic direction of their organisation • Satisfaction with ‘recognition for your performance’
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Category Three: Quality of work-life balance, or ‘negative life-impact’ measure
This sub-index looks at the impact of work on workers’ lives outside the workplace. It reflects the fact that an employee might be highly satisfied with their job itself, and the organisation they work for, but nonetheless feel that their job impinges too much on the rest of their life. It is based on three measures: • Satisfaction with balance between work life and private life
• Extent to which ‘work-life balance has a negative impact on my health’ • Extent to which ‘work-life balance has a negative impact on my relationships’
Each of these sub-indices has an equal weight in our overall morale measure. The intention here is to produce a measure of morale that is fairly comprehensive, and which gives due weight to intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of work. The table opposite sets out the top-line results from all our indices, by country and by geographic region.
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Table: Employee morale index, and sub-indices
The Netherlands Ireland Thailand Switzerland Denmark UK Norway France China Brazil Spain Romania Russia Greece Sweden USA Portugal Canada Poland Korea Australia Germany Japan
overall employee morale index 64 62 62 59 54 53 52 50 50 50 50 50 49 49 48 46 45 45 44 43 42 42 33
job satisfaction index 64 59 66 57 54 56 50 48 41 40 47 48 47 46 45 44 56 44 41 35 45 39 26
quality of employeremployee relations index 62 64 70 62 56 54 54 49 57 55 53 55 51 56 48 49 64 47 47 47 47 39 33
European North American South American South & East Asian
51 46 50 47
50 44 40 43
54 48 55 51
50 46 38 47
Non-manual (ABC1) Manual (C2DE)
51 48
50 45
54 52
47 47
Country
Scandinavian Northern European Southern European Central & Eastern European North American South American South & East Asian UK & Ireland
Male Female
Under 35 Over 35
51 53 48 48 46 50 47 58
49 50
50 50
50 51 48 45 44 40 43 57
48 47 47 48
53 53 58 51 48 55 51 59
53 53 53 53
work-life balance index 68 64 49 56 49 49 53 54 50 54 51 46 52 45 51 47 16 45 42 50 35 49 42
51 57 39 47 46 38 47 56
47 48
48 47
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The World Beaters
The world beater in terms of employee morale is The Netherlands, with Thai and Irish workers tying for second place. The Lowest Reported Morale
Japanese workers reported the lowest morale by quite a long way, and were low on all three indices, and German workers were second last overall.
It is perhaps surprising to see German and Japanese workers scoring so low, especially on satisfaction with employee employer cooperation. This may well be reflecting the fact that these cultures have traditionally very high expectations in this regard. While economic fortunes are beginning to turn around again in both countries, these results may represent a legacy of recent economic misfortune, and an ongoing failure of workplaces to live up to levels of expectation. While a ‘continental’ analysis may be useful for summarisation, it is clear enough that this hides major differences between individual countries (for example note that Germany and the Netherlands appear at opposite ends of the scale, as do Japan and Thailand). Perhaps the comparison of European subregions is more useful. Here, the UK and Ireland emerge as having the highest level of morale among the European sub-regions, edging out the European competition on all three sub-indices too. In the UK, some may point to the decisive shift that took place in British industrial relations in the 1980s, while some will point to New Labour’s record of steady increases in workers’ standards of living, their halting of growing income inequality, and their progressive legislative record on work-life balance issues. In any case, a collective pat on the back is in order (and an extra public holiday to celebrate, perhaps?!).
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Theme 3 Differentiating attitudes to work-life balance
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As we highlighted in Theme 1, in the UK having a balance between private life and work life is the most important predictor for overall job satisfaction. In most other countries, however, interesting work is the key predictor. In Theme 3, we dig deeper – looking in detail at how attitudes to work life balance differ around the globe. Before we start, it should be noted that discerning different ‘cultures’ of work-life balance around the globe is complicated by two research factors:
1: In some countries, response rates are higher for every item. This illustrates a well-known tendency for positive ‘yes’ responses to be higher in some cultures, than in others, regardless of subject.
2: Certain items consistently score higher than others, regardless of which country respondents are from. We see this in the table opposite, the ‘global’ ranking of definitions of work-life balance is echoed in the great majority of countries, with ‘balancing and separating home and work, and ‘giving weight to home issues’ the predominant definition. This could lead to the conclusion that, by and large, attitudes to work-life balance are the same around the globe.
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Table: What does the term ‘work-life balance’ mean to you? (% choosing each definition, by country) – top % highlighted in yellow for each country Balancing home and work/giving weight to home issues
Achieving a quality of life (general)
Good cooperation between employer & employee
Having flexibility in work hours
Flexibility towards home issues
Employer Improved awareness working of employees’ environment needs
Standard of working life
Innovative solutions through the use of technology
Global average
61%
58%
49%
46%
46%
46%
43%
42%
Australia
71%
59%
39%
40%
31%
38%
20%
25%
19%
Canada
71%
59%
44%
40%
35%
43%
31%
27%
20%
Germany
41%
45%
76%
65%
61%
57%
39%
67%
37%
Ireland
67%
70%
44%
45%
39%
39%
31%
47%
22%
Country Brazil
France
Greece Japan Korea
87% 70%
66% 66% 29%
95% 85% 89% 41% 49%
92% 81% 83% 24% 24%
86% 65% 68% 28% 29%
89%
88%
69%
77%
70% 37% 38%
77% 22% 28%
94% 77% 78% 39% 33%
90% 78% 77% 19% 18%
35%
87% 67% 65% 7%
31%
Mexico
48%
27%
4%
28%
31%
14%
10%
5%
15%
Poland
76%
35%
27%
16%
26%
25%
16%
20%
18%
China
Portugal
Romania Russia
57% 31% 77% 36%
61% 63% 87% 36%
45% 42% 87% 24%
37% 41% 61% 37%
64%
70%
58%
64%
61%
69%
Thailand
75%
92%
89%
84%
The Netherlands
73%
61%
78%
75%
77%
66%
70% 52%
77%
38%
32%
71% 67%
32%
36%
25%
Spain
Switzerland
34%
55%
89%
61% 35% 84% 31%
39% 21% 74% 23%
17% 27% 73% 18%
62%
63%
62%
52%
85%
76%
90%
79%
66%
62%
59%
74%
55%
59%
52%
UK
71%
77%
70%
61%
66%
69%
60%
60%
Norway
53%
27%
4%
10%
7%
9%
4%
2%
2%
Denmark
46%
24%
17%
17%
38%
17%
7%
9%
5%
USA
Sweden
79%
44%
54%
41%
39%
14%
33%
6%
29%
1%
38% 7%
25%
5%
18%
14%
50% 16%
3%
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A better approach
In order to overcome these problems we’ve done a correspondence analysis, which: 1: First factors out the difference in overall levels of response in different countries 2: Then factors out the tendency for some definitions to do better than others. So, what we are left with is the relative emphasis that workers place on different items in different countries which more clearly demonstrates the differences in attitudes to work-life balance between each country. The map opposite places each country’s scores on a 3-dimensional map. Each dimension is based upon a combination of two of the items above, as follows:
‘Work vs. life’ index: Relative emphasis placed on items one and four above (giving weight to home issues and flexible hours)
‘Work is life’ index: Relative emphasis placed on items seven and eight above (standard of work life and working environment) ‘Co-operative’ index: Relative emphasis placed on items three and six (employee/employer co-operation and employer awareness of employee needs)
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Map 1: Relative emphasis placed on various definitions of work-life balance
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This approach produces results that are fairly intuitively satisfying. Workers in the Scandinavian countries – (and in Mexico and Japan, interestingly) are most likely to emphasise a ‘work vs. life’ attitude, with the Norwegians the most extreme in emphasising a ‘defensive’ attitude to work-life balance and the attendant demand for flexibility . North American and Australian workers exhibit marginally more emphasis on a work vs. life attitude, but are also likely to emphasise a co-operative stance.
Workers in all the Asian countries in our study, Brazil and some Southern European countries tend towards a ‘work is life’ attitude, placing more emphasis on improvement in work conditions rather than limiting the impact on home life as such. This ties in neatly with the findings in Theme 1, which showed that in these countries ‘job security’ is a more important factor for overall job satisfaction.
It is perhaps no surprise to find Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland exhibiting a tendency towards a ‘co-operative’ attitude. The UK and Portugal are also in this category. For all these countries, it is relatively more important that there is cooperation between employee and employer and a high level of awareness on the part of the employer about their employees’ needs.
We should bear in mind that these differences in emphasis only make sense in a comparative context: some countries are more like this than others – such descriptions might be misleading if presented in isolation from the ‘global’ truth: that workers in the vast majority of developed countries tend to see the work-life balance issue in terms of balance – but with differing weight to home issues, the need for flexibility, co-operation and employer awareness of employee needs.
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Theme 4 Worker’s problems around the globe – the difference between retention and recruitment
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So to re-cap, in Theme 1, we establish how predictors of job satisfaction vary around the globe and what employers need to do to keep their employees happy. In Theme 2, we give a ranking for employee morale. Theme 3, highlights how overall attitudes to
work-life balance vary from country to country. In this section, we dig deeper and look at what workers in each county consider to be the problems impacting on their ability to do their work.
Table: % of workers who feel that various things are problems for them right now Number of hours that you work
Time it takes to Not getting commute /travel enough to work holidays/paid time off
Not getting enough unpaid time off
Having to care for children
Having to care for adults
No flexibility in working hours
Not enjoying the work you do
Dissatisfaction with pay
17%
15%
12%
23%
16%
36%
13%
12%
7%
23%
22%
30%
Global
26%
20%
22%
Australia
40%
28%
23%
Country Brazil
Canada France
Germany Greece Ireland Japan
Korea
Mexico China
Poland
Portugal
Romania Russia Spain
Switzerland Thailand
The Netherlands UK
USA
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
27%
25% 18% 27%
41%
30%
19% 18% 18%
25% 29% 18% 10%
31% 16% 18% 4%
16% 13% 14% 7%
16% 6%
11% 7%
29% 22%
23%
13%
20%
32%
20%
19%
15%
35%
26%
12%
28%
17%
9%
8%
15%
27%
37%
21% 42% 37% 26%
26% 23% 27%
34% 12%
19%
12%
26% 26% 23%
28% 20%
15%
13%
7%
29%
37%
28%
29%
30%
23%
19%
17% 25%
29% 25% 11%
17% 11%
26% 18%
12%
14% 13%
10% 23%
24% 41%
36% 29%
12%
18% 8%
37% 26%
12%
14% 9%
12% 24%
15% 35%
18% 33%
11%
16%
14% 30% 14%
7%
6%
7%
5%
30%
16%
21%
15%
14% 32%
36% 19%
7%
15% 6%
22% 11%
11% 5%
12%
2%
12%
32%
47%
17%
23%
15% 6%
14% 35%
39% 14%
8%
22% 7%
12%
7%
3%
4%
1%
13%
24%
24% 38%
31% 38%
14%
31%
10%
29%
19%
14%
17% 11%
19% 20%
17% 18%
14%
4%
18%
14%
14% 16%
14% 11%
28%
32% 23%
8%
13% 9%
22%
20%
7%
12% 9%
45% 35% 43% 33% 40%
15%
38%
44%
17%
43% 55% 42% 59% 61% 41% 18% 32% 15% 40% 38% 23% 35% 22%
Continued over
21
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Continued table: % of workers who feel that various things are problems for them right now Number of hours that you work
Time it takes to Not getting commute /travel enough to work holidays/paid time off
Not getting enough unpaid time off
Having to care for children
Having to care for adults
No flexibility in working hours
Not enjoying the work you do
Dissatisfaction with pay
17%
15%
12%
23%
16%
36%
15%
14%
11%
21%
15%
36%
Global
26%
20%
22%
All Europe
24%
18%
20%
Country
UK & Ireland
Scandinavian Northern European Southern European
23%
24%
South American
13%
22% 12%
14% 6%
12%
6%
9%
3%
18% 14%
11% 9%
25% 27%
17%
15%
12%
12%
9%
8%
15%
13%
27%
33%
23%
28%
24%
18%
15%
28%
17%
42%
24%
32%
23%
27%
24%
30%
24%
58%
Central & Eastern European 26% North American
19%
26%
19%
28%
15%
12%
7%
20%
20%
36%
South & East Asian
27%
33%
17%
21%
16%
15%
21%
16%
29%
19%
28%
21%
18%
21%
31%
15%
38%
Female
28%
21%
23%
18%
18%
14%
25%
16%
39%
Male
Non-manual (ABC1) Manual (C2DE)
Under 35 Over 35
25%
19%
21%
16%
12%
11%
16%
33%
28%
23%
23%
17%
16%
13%
23%
15%
34%
26%
18%
24%
18%
15%
13%
24%
17%
41%
25%
19%
21%
15%
15%
13%
21%
15%
35%
29%
22%
24%
19%
15%
10%
Nb: In the table above, the highest levels of response for each problem, i.e. in each column, (the top 5 countries, and also the highest country group/gender/age etc) are highlighted in pink.
The highest level of response in each row (i.e. the top problem within each country or demographic) is highlighted by a bold outline to the cell and bold contents.
22
21%
31%
25%
17%
37%
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It is worth noting, straightaway, that there is no very obvious relationship between either the absolute levels of complaint shown here or the level of complaint relative to conditions (‘scale of demands’) shown later in this section, and job satisfaction – see first section. That is to say, demanding workers are not necessarily de-motivated or unhappy but they are more likely to complain about their situation. 1: Dissatisfaction with pay is the most commonly mentioned problem within almost every demographic and country. Working hours is the second most mentioned problem, and lack of flexibility third. This is at odds with the result in Theme 1, which showed that when asked what were the key predictors of overall job satisfaction, salary level was of less relative importance than having an interesting job and achieving work-life balance. See later on in this section, for a discussion of this difference.
2: Certain countries and demographics have a higher level of response for most or all items. Unlike in the case of Theme 2, where cultural knowledge indicates a likely difference in response patterns – we have to take this at face value. It does seem intuitively fairly plausible that in countries such as Romania and Russia workers will indeed have more difficult working lives. Equally, the fact that women and younger workers find work far more ‘problematic’ may have an attitudinal dimension, but more likely simply reflects their relatively oppressed position in the global workforce. 3: The biggest differences between countries emerge in levels of satisfaction with pay (particularly low in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE countries)), and the ‘care burden’ on workers (again, in CEE countries, workers are four times more likely than British workers to shoulder elderly-care responsibilities, and eight times more likely than Scandinavian workers).
Where are the world’s most demanding workers… and also, conversely, where are the world’s most willing workers?
Our data on the problems that workers face is useful on one level. But is it telling us more about the realities of workers’ lives, or about their attitudes to work? Can this explain the differences with the findings in Theme 1? When we looked at ‘raw’ levels of complaint, we’ll recall that workers in CEE and Asian countries generally had the highest levels. But, given that pay levels are in fact relatively low in CEE countries, and working hours are exceptionally long in South Asian countries, wouldn’t this be quite justifiable? A reasonable attitudinal measure, of how ‘demanding’ workers are, would surely be based on levels of complaint relative to actual working conditions. Put it another way: which workers are really hard done by, and who just think that they are?
Some of our ‘problems’ data, if placed alongside ILO and World Bank statistics, give us the opportunity to compare workers’ perceptions to global realities. We can look at two measures that cover all the countries in the study: 1: % who feel their pay is a problem (compared with actual average levels of income relative to the cost of living (Purchasing Power Parities))
2: % who feel their working hours are too long (compared with actual working hours) Let’s look at the results overleaf:
23
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Table: Worker complaints and the realities of work: 23 countries, pay and working hours Pay
Country
Overall ‘whinginess’ rank
% unhappy with pay
Actual income relative to cost of living
Pay whinge rank
France
1
43%
30540
2
Sweden
=2
35%
31420
6
UK
USA
Australia Portugal Canada Greece Poland
Germany Spain
Japan
=2 3
=4 =4 =5 =5 6
=7 =7
8
40% 38% 30% 42% 35% 40% 55% 33% 41%
38%
32690 41950 30610 19730 32220 23620 13490 29210 25820
31410
3 1
12 13 5
10 14 8 7
4
Working hours
% feeling working hours impinge on private life
Actual average weekly working hours
Hours whinge rank
35%
36.4
7
34% 38% 31% 44% 57% 28% 38% 45% 28% 28%
45%
8230
21
35%
Korea
Romania China
Russia
The Netherlands Thailand Ireland
=12 13 14 15
16 17
18
44%
59% 43% 61% 15% 32%
15%
This analysis of two very fundamental measures – pay and working hours – across 23 countries, and produces some fascinating findings. French the most demanding workers
In the overall measure, it is French workers who are most demanding, with UK and Swedish workers equal second, that is workers in these countries are most likely
24
33570 21850 8940 6600
10640
32480
8440
34720
15 9
18 22 17 20 23
19
39.8 39.8 34.5 35.2
10 5 3
12 13
34.5
11
22%
31.9
1
27%
Brazil
=12
39.1
2
17
33%
Denmark
34.8
11
34.9
16 11
39.6
24%
37080
40420
4
19
18%
23%
35.7
42.2
9
10
6
25%
Switzerland Norway
34.5
18%
31% 29% 17%
17%
30%
15%
to be dissatisfied despite their relative good fortune.
All our top five nations here show a fairly high level of worker complaint about both pay and hours, neither of which are actually particularly harsh in global terms. A slight exception here are US workers, who emerge as the third most ‘demanding’ in the world. Although they are quite happy to work
36.1
42
45.7
41.2 37.8 33.2
29.7
48.9
35.1
8
9
16 22 14 15 21
20
18
23
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long hours, the fact that US workers have by far the highest levels of income (relative to the cost of living) in the world, and yet almost four in ten feel that their pay is a problem, places them third. Compare US workers with Thai workers, for example – while real levels of income are more than eight times higher in the States, more workers in the US feel their pay is a problem than in Thailand. UK second most demanding
Workers in the UK come second overall (alongside Sweden) in our global ‘demanding workers’ league table. Again, as with the US, it is relatively high levels of dissatisfaction with pay despite what is, in global terms, a very good standard of living, that accounts for this. Perhaps there is something in the nature of US/UK society, with its competitive individualism and highly unequal wealth distribution, that accounts for this. This may provide support for the idea that such societies, characterised by consumerist and individualist ideologies, fail to convert their material wealth and benign working conditions into higher levels of satisfaction or happiness. The comparison with levels of worker dissatisfaction in Scandinavia, Northern Europe and Ireland is striking. Irish most willing workers
Looking to the other end of the scale now, it is Irish workers who emerge as the world’s most willing, simply because they are so unlikely to complain about their hours or pay – fewer than one in six employees in Ireland indicate a problem with either. Thai workers come a close second. Despite having the third lowest pay levels within the 23 countries, and the longest working hours (at a staggering 48.9 hours per week), Thai workers have lower than average levels of complaint on both counts.
in six saying hours are a problem and only 17% feeling pay is a problem – way below the levels seen in other countries aside from Ireland (see also the basic ‘problems’ data table on pages 21 and 22). Introducing holiday allowances into the analysis
An EIRO (2002) study gives us comparable data on average annual leave and public holidays, which intersects with 11 of the countries in our study, all of which are in Europe.
The table below sets out a comparison which we will now be familiar with – who complains most about the amount of time off they get, and who least? – and how does this compare with actual holiday time? Table: % of workers who feel that their holiday allowances are a problem and actual holiday allowances country
% feeling they don’t get enough holidays
Actual days annual leave & public holidays
Holiday whinge rank
UK Greece Spain Portugal Ireland France Sweden Norway Denmark Germany The Netherlands
37% 32% 29% 24% 13% 18% 14% 12% 9% 10% 8%
33.5 34 35 37.5 29 36 36 35 38.5 39.6 39.3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Workers in The Netherlands also emerge as some of the world’s most willing. Here (as in Ireland) it is not a case of great forbearance in the face of low pay and long hours – in fact, pay and hours are relatively good. The reason The Netherlands does so well is because workers there have exceptionally low levels of complaint, with fewer than one
25
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UK workers most holiday hungry
Among the 11 countries included here, it is UK workers who emerge as the most ‘holiday hungry’ – to be fair, overall holiday allowances in the UK are not generous by European standards, but the proportion of workers who are unhappy with their holiday allowance is almost three times higher than the European average in the UK, at 37%.
Compare, for example, Irish workers, who get four and a half days less than those in the UK, but are almost three times less likely to complain about it! In summary:
At a European level then, we find that:
• French workers are the most demanding about their pay (in both absolute and relative terms)
• Greek workers are the most demanding about their working hours (in both absolute and relative terms)
• UK workers are the most demanding about their holiday allowances (in both absolute and relative terms) Our overall, combined measure shows that workers in France and the UK are the most demanding (relative to reality – and in absolute terms, on the whole), while those in The Netherlands are the most content.
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About FDS International FDS International is a top 15 market research agency as posted in the Marketing league tables for 2006. Established in 1972, annual turnover in 2006 for FDS and its sister company, acefieldwork, was close to £6 million. A blue-chip customer base includes longstanding clients such as BT, British Gas and Yell in the commercial sector and UK central government clients such as the Office of Fair Trading, HM Revenue and Customs, Identity and Passport Service and Department for Work and Pensions.
A core area of specialism for FDS is customer satisfaction research, in both consumer and business segments, which accounts for over 60% of revenues and encompasses large continuous projects for BT and Jobcentre Plus. Research focuses on providing information that assists clients in creating a prioritised agenda for change and in post-implementation tracking. FDS also has a strong track record in mystery shopping, both physical and increasingly online, employee and communications research, using quantitative and qualitative techniques to derive genuine business insight for clients. A highly experienced research team carry out a range of sophisticated analysis using data gathered in-house through our own 100-seat telephone centre, online or by post. Where face-to-face research forms part of a project, sister company, acefieldwork carries out this work. FDS has quality accreditations and/or
industry membership with MRQSA, ISO 9001, MRS, ESOMAR and IQCS.
FDS is the UK representative in the IriS (International Research InstituteS) Network of global, independent research companies. More information on IriS can be found at www.iris-net.org.
In June 2006, FDS and acefieldwork were the subject of a management buy-in by a new marketing services group, Munro Global Limited (www.munroglobal.net). With backing from Electra Kingsway Venture Capital Trust funding, the MBI team comprised Charlotte Cornish (new MD) and Richard Hepburn (new CEO), who were joined on the Munro Global Board by three non-executive directors, Janet Weitz (original founder of FDS), Fiona Stewart (a former CEO of Opinion Leader Research) and Mark Speeks (Electra Kingsway representative). All the existing senior management teams within the FDS businesses remained in their current roles. For more information on FDS International visit www.fds.co.uk
FDS International Limited Hill House Highgate Hill London, N19 5NA +44 (0)207 272 7766 [email protected]
27
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FDS International Limited Hill House Highgate Hill London, N19 5NA +44 (0)207 272 7766 [email protected]
7/3/07
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What Workers Want: A Worldwide Study of Attitudes to Work and Work-Life Balance
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Foreword
This report represents the findings of the first study carried out by FDS International in conjunction with its partners in IriS, a global network of independent market research agencies. FDS replaced MORI as the UK representative in the IriS Network in July 2006. We are delighted to have been able to see one of the core principles of the Network realised in this study – ‘be global, think local’ in terms of delivering cost-effective, in-depth research on international markets while analysing and appreciating local requirements.
a number of clients within the UK including British Gas, Transport for London, Department for Work and Pensions, Identity and Passport Service and BT. This research demonstrates our wider capability, with our IriS partners to provide valuable insight on an international scale. It also demonstrates how we approach research projects, adding context and secondary sources to help enhance the insight gained from the findings.
FDS International has an excellent track record in undertaking employee research for
Charlotte Cornish Managing Director FDS International
We hope that through reading the following pages you gain greater insight into both UK and international workers attitudes to work today. There are claims made that the whole concept of ‘work-life balance’ is dead – as this study shows, try telling that to a Norwegian!
2
We hope that you enjoy reading this report; indeed, that you find it useful. Should you want further information about this study in particular, or the wider capabilities of FDS International as a full-service market research provider, please contact me on +44 (0)20 7272 7766 or e-mail [email protected]
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Contents Introduction
4
Theme 1: What makes for employee satisfaction?
5
Theme 2: Ranking of employee morale
11
Theme 3: Differentiating attitudes to work-life balance
15
Theme 4: Workers’ problems around the globe – the difference between retention and recruitment
20
About FDS International
27
5
15 11
20
3
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Introduction Lucy Kellaway the FT journalist, has written a provocative forecast in The Economist ‘World in 2007’ report. In it she says that the idea of work-life balance is ‘one of the most pernicious and widespread of all the ideas of flexible working. The phrase not only spawned a thousand conferences but also created false expectations among workers, and encouraged companies to be disingenuous about what they wanted (which was really for everyone to work as hard as possible).’
While it is true that the global marketplace has impacted on the UK workplace so that what we find today is one that has changed out of all recognition from that of 10, or even 5 years ago. We do not believe, however, that the power has swung away from the employee to the employer. Indeed, increasing competition from overseas, increasing worker migration, alongside changes in attitudes to ‘a job for life’ and an increasing emphasis on personal development and transferable skills, have all impacted on the competition between employers for good employees. It is harder than ever to recruit the best and
4
retain the good.
This important study answers vital questions for all employers today – which aspects of employees’ working lives are most important for overall job satisfaction? How important is satisfaction with pay? How important is the working environment? And how important is work-life balance? Our hope is that the results from this study will provide a platform for a more ‘balanced’ discussion of the important issues behind worker satisfaction and help employers in their quest to find and retain the best employees. FDS International has conducted analyses of data collected in the second half of 2006 from 13,832 employees aged 18+ in 23 countries around the world. The research was conducted by members of IriS, the global research group, of which FDS International is the UK member. Please find further details of IriS and FDS International on the inside back cover.
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Theme 1 What makes for employee satisfaction?
5
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A previous international study, using the World Values Survey (WVS), has indicated that a shift takes place, as societies become more affluent and the nature of employment changes, from a focus on extrinsic work values (pay, working hours – the benefits a job has for the employees’ life outside of work), to a focus on intrinsic work values (the quality of the work itself).
Some researchers have questioned the validity of the extrinsic/intrinsic rewards dichotomy, and suggested that more complex schema are necessary to understand employee motivation. This is certainly a wellresearched area. However, few academic studies (aside from the WVS) occupy the international range of this research study, which represents a broad spectrum of countries in the developed world, in terms of geography, industrial structures, and income levels so although our measures are relatively simple by academic standards, and we do not attempt more than a passing reference to the large body of theory and research in this area, we believe that our recent research can make a useful contribution to the understanding of what constitutes job satisfaction and how this varies internationally. Top six predictors for job satisfaction Let’s begin with our first question. At a ‘global’ level, what makes for job satisfaction?
The results here may surprise – the list below sets out in order, where 1 is the most important, the factors most closely associated with overall job satisfaction:
1: (the strongest predictor of overall job satisfaction): Opportunities to do an interesting job 2: Recognition for your performance
3: Balance between private life and worklife 4: Prospects for advancement 5: Job security
6: (the weakest predictor of overall job satisfaction): Your salary/payment.
6
A remarkable result! At a global level, pay is the least good predictor of job satisfaction. Furthermore, as we’ll see below, it does not constitute the most important predictor in any of the countries in our survey. While items 4 and 5 in our ranking are somewhat ambiguous in terms of the extrinsic/intrinsic reward dichotomy, it is clear enough that it is intrinsic rewards that matter most, at a ‘global’ level.
The broad message to employers is clear – the opportunity to do something interesting at work is what matters most for overall job satisfaction. Investing in skills development, promoting initiative and creativity, and inclusivity in strategic decision-making would appear to make for a happier workforce than simply jacking up wage levels. At first glance, this might be just what employers want to hear! But this result should not be taken to mean that token measures will suffice to replace wage increases – making all employees’ jobs more interesting presents a very different, and hugely more complex and nuanced, challenge for employers.
Furthermore, while wage increases for existing staff may not be effective ‘in and of themselves’, for many, wage increases are the language of recognition – the second most important factor in employee satisfaction. To put it more colloquially, ‘money talks’. And it must be remembered that pay rises have a symbolic as well as an economic value. And lastly, we must remember that the dynamics of recruitment are very different from the dynamics of retention.
On the following page, our table sets out the variations in levels of correlation between various measures and overall job satisfaction between the countries in our study. As we’ll see, we find universal confirmation of the idea that salary is not ‘where it’s at’ – but also intriguing variations in the most important components of job satisfaction.
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Table: Predictors of overall job satisfaction, by country and country group (Pearson’s Correlations) – most important factor is highlighted in yellow for each country Country
advancement
interesting job
recognition
Brazil
0.369
0.401
0.444
Australia
0.495
0.585
Canada
0.409
0.561
Germany
0.279
0.566
France
0.268
0.412
Greece
0.398
0.300
Japan
0.468
0.592
Ireland Korea China
Poland
Portugal
Romania Russia Spain
0.392 0.299 0.358 0.293 0.234
0.308 0.256
0.257
0.454 0.259 0.344 0.586 0.136
0.359 0.414
0.286
salary
work life balance
job security
0.459
0.377
0.348
0.377
0.476
0.275
0.343
0.294
0.333 0.490 0.394 0.362 0.554 0.129 0.326 0.494 0.226 0.352 0.387 0.358
0.371 0.177 0.268 0.330 0.152 0.432 0.251 0.422 0.296 0.225 0.300 0.298 0.270
0.374 0.254 0.356 0.300 0.310 0.489 0.171 0.416 0.455 0.273 0.366 0.222 0.321
0.340 0.141 0.310 0.379 0.417 0.540 0.429 0.583 0.300 0.149 0.166 0.211
0.306
Switzerland
0.201
0.422
0.242
0.097
0.242
0.129
The Netherlands
0.286
0.383
0.410
0.211
0.253
0.301
USA
0.416
0.537
0.466
0.341
0.443
0.414
Thailand UK
Norway
Sweden
0.260
0.366 0.237
0.315
0.386
0.386 0.496
0.688
0.140 0.375 0.333 0.296
0.251 0.232 0.124 0.055
0.397 0.414 0.192 0.337
0.410 0.283 0.180 0.381
Denmark
0.240
0.508
0.426
0.128
0.267
0.142
Scandinavian
0.270
0.575
0.346
0.105
0.273
0.239
Southern European
0.304
0.296
0.326
0.341
0.414
0.417
North American
0.413
Country Groups
Northern European 0.304
0.509
Central & Eastern European 0.288
0.452
South American
0.369
South & East Asian 0.525
UK & Ireland
0.384
0.549 0.401
0.529
0.414
0.428 0.422
0.471 0.444
0.462
0.380
0.260 0.303
0.307 0.371
0.473
0.205
0.353 0.355
0.392 0.374
0.440
0.388
0.284 0.226
0.354 0.340
0.549
0.326
7
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Variation by country
As we can see, while in 14/23 countries we find that ‘the opportunity to do an interesting job’ is the most important predictor of job satisfaction, in 9 of our countries this is not the case.
As the ‘country group’-level analysis shows, the exceptions to the rule may be summarised by noting that in South and East Asian countries, and in Southern European countries, job security appears to be more key to job satisfaction. This is something that coheres fairly well with our discussion of different cultures of work-life balance later on in this report – these countries tend to have a ‘work is life’ orientation. In Portugal, while job security is less important than in Spain and other southern European countries, having an interesting job is the least important factor, reflecting the ‘work is life’ orientation. In South American countries, ‘recognition’ appears as more important than ‘interesting job’. Top six predictors for job satisfaction in the UK The results in the UK are as follows:
1: (the strongest predictor of overall job satisfaction): Balance between private life and worklife 2: Opportunities to do an interesting job 3: Recognition for your performance 4: Prospects for advancement 5: Job security
6: (the weakest predictor of overall job satisfaction): Your salary/payment
8
Work-life balance is the key predictor of job satisfaction in the UK. It is crucial for employees in the UK to feel they have control over their working life. We go on to unpack what this means to UK employees and how they compare with their global counterparts in the rest of this report. Top six predictors for job satisfaction by key demographic groups Before we look at work-life balance in more detail – a quick detour to highlight differences by gender and other demographic groups in the top six predictors. While none of these in themselves is surprising, it is interesting to see the stereotypes confirmed.
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Table: Predictors of overall job satisfaction, by demographic groups (Pearson’s Correlations) – key differences in the UK are highlighted in pink Gender
advancement
interesting job
recognition
Female
0.362
0.474
0.407
0.298
0.382
0.366
18-25
0.394
0.483
0.396
0.372
0.357
0.390
Male Age
0.364
0.486
0.415
salary
0.360
work life balance
0.397
job security
0.406
26-35
0.397
0.480
0.406
0.338
0.363
0.380
Over 45
0.336
0.479
0.423
0.305
0.392
0.402
36-45
Education level
0.357
0.478
0.412
0.328
0.426
0.373
Low
0.343
0.432
0.420
0.323
0.417
0.434
High
0.370
0.506
0.448
0.325
0.379
0.387
Non profit organisation
0.317
0.471
0.391
0.257
0.342
0.270
0.384
0.395
0.437
0.442
0.410
0.442
0.382
0.445
0.361
0.358
0.357
0.430
0.470
0.424
0.323
0.412
0.409
0.356
0.502
0.382
0.317
0.397
0.385
0.357
0.540
0.476
0.312
0.402
0.343
0.374
0.476
0.404
0.338
0.362
0.402
Medium Place of work Own/microbusiness (1-4 people)
Small business (5-19 people)
0.362
Medium business (20-99 people) 0.373 Large business (100-1,000 people)
Business over 1,000 people
Manual or non-manual worker Non-manual (ABC1)
Manual (C2DE)
0.356
0.471
0.471
0.369
0.396
0.340
0.322
0.396
0.439
0.374
0.392
9
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Money more important to men
Gender differences are not in fact great, except where pay is concerned. Men’s job satisfaction rests significantly more on their satisfaction with pay, and somewhat more on their job security. The tendency for men to maintain their ongoing role as primary providers in the household doubtless explains this.
Advocates of gender equality in working/caring roles will bemoan the ‘vicious circle’ that is at play here: women place less importance on their wages, and thus end up earning less, caring more, and continuing to rely on male partners to determine the household’s standard of living.
Recognition is more important for older workers
Younger workers’ job satisfaction is more dependent than older workers on opportunities for advancement and salary, while ‘recognition’ becomes more important as we go through our working lives. Educated workers want interesting jobs
More highly educated workers place greater importance on doing an interesting job, while less educated workers’ satisfaction lies more in work-life balance and job security. Perhaps not surprisingly, workers in nonprofit organisations have a strikingly different attitude to work than those in commercial outfits, being far less concerned with advancement, salary and security.
10
Comparing smaller and larger businesses is also worthwhile – the importance of interesting work becomes more pronounced the larger the business an employee is working for. Perhaps this is explained by the kinds of drivers and worries that characterise life within smaller businesses. The smaller the business, the more important salary and job security become to overall job satisfaction. Lastly, work-life balance appears as more important to manual than non-manual workers, no doubt reflecting the lack of control that most manual workers, except the self-employed, have in their working life.
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Theme 2 Ranking of employee morale
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In Theme 1, we looked at overall job satisfaction and how this differed by country. In this section we develop this theme with additional variables to highlight differences in overall employee morale by country – we produce a ranking to highlight which countries’ employees have the best morale in the world.
We have divided the broad concept, ‘morale’, into three sub-categories; these, and their component questions, are set out below: Category One: Job satisfaction as outlined in Theme 1 This sub-index is intended to reflect the level of contentment that workers have with their jobs themselves. It is based on the same four measures as in Theme 1: • Satisfaction with prospects for advancement
• Satisfaction with ‘opportunities to do an interesting job’ • Satisfaction with pay
• Satisfaction with job security Category Two: Quality of employeremployee relationships
This sub-index is intended to reflect worker’s feelings about their employers and managers, and the degree to which they feel supported, and in turn support their management. It is based on three measures: • Extent to which workers trust decisions made by management
• Extent to which workers have faith in the strategic direction of their organisation • Satisfaction with ‘recognition for your performance’
12
Category Three: Quality of work-life balance, or ‘negative life-impact’ measure
This sub-index looks at the impact of work on workers’ lives outside the workplace. It reflects the fact that an employee might be highly satisfied with their job itself, and the organisation they work for, but nonetheless feel that their job impinges too much on the rest of their life. It is based on three measures: • Satisfaction with balance between work life and private life
• Extent to which ‘work-life balance has a negative impact on my health’ • Extent to which ‘work-life balance has a negative impact on my relationships’
Each of these sub-indices has an equal weight in our overall morale measure. The intention here is to produce a measure of morale that is fairly comprehensive, and which gives due weight to intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of work. The table opposite sets out the top-line results from all our indices, by country and by geographic region.
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Table: Employee morale index, and sub-indices
The Netherlands Ireland Thailand Switzerland Denmark UK Norway France China Brazil Spain Romania Russia Greece Sweden USA Portugal Canada Poland Korea Australia Germany Japan
overall employee morale index 64 62 62 59 54 53 52 50 50 50 50 50 49 49 48 46 45 45 44 43 42 42 33
job satisfaction index 64 59 66 57 54 56 50 48 41 40 47 48 47 46 45 44 56 44 41 35 45 39 26
quality of employeremployee relations index 62 64 70 62 56 54 54 49 57 55 53 55 51 56 48 49 64 47 47 47 47 39 33
European North American South American South & East Asian
51 46 50 47
50 44 40 43
54 48 55 51
50 46 38 47
Non-manual (ABC1) Manual (C2DE)
51 48
50 45
54 52
47 47
Country
Scandinavian Northern European Southern European Central & Eastern European North American South American South & East Asian UK & Ireland
Male Female
Under 35 Over 35
51 53 48 48 46 50 47 58
49 50
50 50
50 51 48 45 44 40 43 57
48 47 47 48
53 53 58 51 48 55 51 59
53 53 53 53
work-life balance index 68 64 49 56 49 49 53 54 50 54 51 46 52 45 51 47 16 45 42 50 35 49 42
51 57 39 47 46 38 47 56
47 48
48 47
13
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The World Beaters
The world beater in terms of employee morale is The Netherlands, with Thai and Irish workers tying for second place. The Lowest Reported Morale
Japanese workers reported the lowest morale by quite a long way, and were low on all three indices, and German workers were second last overall.
It is perhaps surprising to see German and Japanese workers scoring so low, especially on satisfaction with employee employer cooperation. This may well be reflecting the fact that these cultures have traditionally very high expectations in this regard. While economic fortunes are beginning to turn around again in both countries, these results may represent a legacy of recent economic misfortune, and an ongoing failure of workplaces to live up to levels of expectation. While a ‘continental’ analysis may be useful for summarisation, it is clear enough that this hides major differences between individual countries (for example note that Germany and the Netherlands appear at opposite ends of the scale, as do Japan and Thailand). Perhaps the comparison of European subregions is more useful. Here, the UK and Ireland emerge as having the highest level of morale among the European sub-regions, edging out the European competition on all three sub-indices too. In the UK, some may point to the decisive shift that took place in British industrial relations in the 1980s, while some will point to New Labour’s record of steady increases in workers’ standards of living, their halting of growing income inequality, and their progressive legislative record on work-life balance issues. In any case, a collective pat on the back is in order (and an extra public holiday to celebrate, perhaps?!).
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Theme 3 Differentiating attitudes to work-life balance
15
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As we highlighted in Theme 1, in the UK having a balance between private life and work life is the most important predictor for overall job satisfaction. In most other countries, however, interesting work is the key predictor. In Theme 3, we dig deeper – looking in detail at how attitudes to work life balance differ around the globe. Before we start, it should be noted that discerning different ‘cultures’ of work-life balance around the globe is complicated by two research factors:
1: In some countries, response rates are higher for every item. This illustrates a well-known tendency for positive ‘yes’ responses to be higher in some cultures, than in others, regardless of subject.
2: Certain items consistently score higher than others, regardless of which country respondents are from. We see this in the table opposite, the ‘global’ ranking of definitions of work-life balance is echoed in the great majority of countries, with ‘balancing and separating home and work, and ‘giving weight to home issues’ the predominant definition. This could lead to the conclusion that, by and large, attitudes to work-life balance are the same around the globe.
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Table: What does the term ‘work-life balance’ mean to you? (% choosing each definition, by country) – top % highlighted in yellow for each country Balancing home and work/giving weight to home issues
Achieving a quality of life (general)
Good cooperation between employer & employee
Having flexibility in work hours
Flexibility towards home issues
Employer Improved awareness working of employees’ environment needs
Standard of working life
Innovative solutions through the use of technology
Global average
61%
58%
49%
46%
46%
46%
43%
42%
Australia
71%
59%
39%
40%
31%
38%
20%
25%
19%
Canada
71%
59%
44%
40%
35%
43%
31%
27%
20%
Germany
41%
45%
76%
65%
61%
57%
39%
67%
37%
Ireland
67%
70%
44%
45%
39%
39%
31%
47%
22%
Country Brazil
France
Greece Japan Korea
87% 70%
66% 66% 29%
95% 85% 89% 41% 49%
92% 81% 83% 24% 24%
86% 65% 68% 28% 29%
89%
88%
69%
77%
70% 37% 38%
77% 22% 28%
94% 77% 78% 39% 33%
90% 78% 77% 19% 18%
35%
87% 67% 65% 7%
31%
Mexico
48%
27%
4%
28%
31%
14%
10%
5%
15%
Poland
76%
35%
27%
16%
26%
25%
16%
20%
18%
China
Portugal
Romania Russia
57% 31% 77% 36%
61% 63% 87% 36%
45% 42% 87% 24%
37% 41% 61% 37%
64%
70%
58%
64%
61%
69%
Thailand
75%
92%
89%
84%
The Netherlands
73%
61%
78%
75%
77%
66%
70% 52%
77%
38%
32%
71% 67%
32%
36%
25%
Spain
Switzerland
34%
55%
89%
61% 35% 84% 31%
39% 21% 74% 23%
17% 27% 73% 18%
62%
63%
62%
52%
85%
76%
90%
79%
66%
62%
59%
74%
55%
59%
52%
UK
71%
77%
70%
61%
66%
69%
60%
60%
Norway
53%
27%
4%
10%
7%
9%
4%
2%
2%
Denmark
46%
24%
17%
17%
38%
17%
7%
9%
5%
USA
Sweden
79%
44%
54%
41%
39%
14%
33%
6%
29%
1%
38% 7%
25%
5%
18%
14%
50% 16%
3%
17
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A better approach
In order to overcome these problems we’ve done a correspondence analysis, which: 1: First factors out the difference in overall levels of response in different countries 2: Then factors out the tendency for some definitions to do better than others. So, what we are left with is the relative emphasis that workers place on different items in different countries which more clearly demonstrates the differences in attitudes to work-life balance between each country. The map opposite places each country’s scores on a 3-dimensional map. Each dimension is based upon a combination of two of the items above, as follows:
‘Work vs. life’ index: Relative emphasis placed on items one and four above (giving weight to home issues and flexible hours)
‘Work is life’ index: Relative emphasis placed on items seven and eight above (standard of work life and working environment) ‘Co-operative’ index: Relative emphasis placed on items three and six (employee/employer co-operation and employer awareness of employee needs)
18
Map 1: Relative emphasis placed on various definitions of work-life balance
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This approach produces results that are fairly intuitively satisfying. Workers in the Scandinavian countries – (and in Mexico and Japan, interestingly) are most likely to emphasise a ‘work vs. life’ attitude, with the Norwegians the most extreme in emphasising a ‘defensive’ attitude to work-life balance and the attendant demand for flexibility . North American and Australian workers exhibit marginally more emphasis on a work vs. life attitude, but are also likely to emphasise a co-operative stance.
Workers in all the Asian countries in our study, Brazil and some Southern European countries tend towards a ‘work is life’ attitude, placing more emphasis on improvement in work conditions rather than limiting the impact on home life as such. This ties in neatly with the findings in Theme 1, which showed that in these countries ‘job security’ is a more important factor for overall job satisfaction.
It is perhaps no surprise to find Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland exhibiting a tendency towards a ‘co-operative’ attitude. The UK and Portugal are also in this category. For all these countries, it is relatively more important that there is cooperation between employee and employer and a high level of awareness on the part of the employer about their employees’ needs.
We should bear in mind that these differences in emphasis only make sense in a comparative context: some countries are more like this than others – such descriptions might be misleading if presented in isolation from the ‘global’ truth: that workers in the vast majority of developed countries tend to see the work-life balance issue in terms of balance – but with differing weight to home issues, the need for flexibility, co-operation and employer awareness of employee needs.
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Theme 4 Worker’s problems around the globe – the difference between retention and recruitment
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So to re-cap, in Theme 1, we establish how predictors of job satisfaction vary around the globe and what employers need to do to keep their employees happy. In Theme 2, we give a ranking for employee morale. Theme 3, highlights how overall attitudes to
work-life balance vary from country to country. In this section, we dig deeper and look at what workers in each county consider to be the problems impacting on their ability to do their work.
Table: % of workers who feel that various things are problems for them right now Number of hours that you work
Time it takes to Not getting commute /travel enough to work holidays/paid time off
Not getting enough unpaid time off
Having to care for children
Having to care for adults
No flexibility in working hours
Not enjoying the work you do
Dissatisfaction with pay
17%
15%
12%
23%
16%
36%
13%
12%
7%
23%
22%
30%
Global
26%
20%
22%
Australia
40%
28%
23%
Country Brazil
Canada France
Germany Greece Ireland Japan
Korea
Mexico China
Poland
Portugal
Romania Russia Spain
Switzerland Thailand
The Netherlands UK
USA
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
27%
25% 18% 27%
41%
30%
19% 18% 18%
25% 29% 18% 10%
31% 16% 18% 4%
16% 13% 14% 7%
16% 6%
11% 7%
29% 22%
23%
13%
20%
32%
20%
19%
15%
35%
26%
12%
28%
17%
9%
8%
15%
27%
37%
21% 42% 37% 26%
26% 23% 27%
34% 12%
19%
12%
26% 26% 23%
28% 20%
15%
13%
7%
29%
37%
28%
29%
30%
23%
19%
17% 25%
29% 25% 11%
17% 11%
26% 18%
12%
14% 13%
10% 23%
24% 41%
36% 29%
12%
18% 8%
37% 26%
12%
14% 9%
12% 24%
15% 35%
18% 33%
11%
16%
14% 30% 14%
7%
6%
7%
5%
30%
16%
21%
15%
14% 32%
36% 19%
7%
15% 6%
22% 11%
11% 5%
12%
2%
12%
32%
47%
17%
23%
15% 6%
14% 35%
39% 14%
8%
22% 7%
12%
7%
3%
4%
1%
13%
24%
24% 38%
31% 38%
14%
31%
10%
29%
19%
14%
17% 11%
19% 20%
17% 18%
14%
4%
18%
14%
14% 16%
14% 11%
28%
32% 23%
8%
13% 9%
22%
20%
7%
12% 9%
45% 35% 43% 33% 40%
15%
38%
44%
17%
43% 55% 42% 59% 61% 41% 18% 32% 15% 40% 38% 23% 35% 22%
Continued over
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Continued table: % of workers who feel that various things are problems for them right now Number of hours that you work
Time it takes to Not getting commute /travel enough to work holidays/paid time off
Not getting enough unpaid time off
Having to care for children
Having to care for adults
No flexibility in working hours
Not enjoying the work you do
Dissatisfaction with pay
17%
15%
12%
23%
16%
36%
15%
14%
11%
21%
15%
36%
Global
26%
20%
22%
All Europe
24%
18%
20%
Country
UK & Ireland
Scandinavian Northern European Southern European
23%
24%
South American
13%
22% 12%
14% 6%
12%
6%
9%
3%
18% 14%
11% 9%
25% 27%
17%
15%
12%
12%
9%
8%
15%
13%
27%
33%
23%
28%
24%
18%
15%
28%
17%
42%
24%
32%
23%
27%
24%
30%
24%
58%
Central & Eastern European 26% North American
19%
26%
19%
28%
15%
12%
7%
20%
20%
36%
South & East Asian
27%
33%
17%
21%
16%
15%
21%
16%
29%
19%
28%
21%
18%
21%
31%
15%
38%
Female
28%
21%
23%
18%
18%
14%
25%
16%
39%
Male
Non-manual (ABC1) Manual (C2DE)
Under 35 Over 35
25%
19%
21%
16%
12%
11%
16%
33%
28%
23%
23%
17%
16%
13%
23%
15%
34%
26%
18%
24%
18%
15%
13%
24%
17%
41%
25%
19%
21%
15%
15%
13%
21%
15%
35%
29%
22%
24%
19%
15%
10%
Nb: In the table above, the highest levels of response for each problem, i.e. in each column, (the top 5 countries, and also the highest country group/gender/age etc) are highlighted in pink.
The highest level of response in each row (i.e. the top problem within each country or demographic) is highlighted by a bold outline to the cell and bold contents.
22
21%
31%
25%
17%
37%
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It is worth noting, straightaway, that there is no very obvious relationship between either the absolute levels of complaint shown here or the level of complaint relative to conditions (‘scale of demands’) shown later in this section, and job satisfaction – see first section. That is to say, demanding workers are not necessarily de-motivated or unhappy but they are more likely to complain about their situation. 1: Dissatisfaction with pay is the most commonly mentioned problem within almost every demographic and country. Working hours is the second most mentioned problem, and lack of flexibility third. This is at odds with the result in Theme 1, which showed that when asked what were the key predictors of overall job satisfaction, salary level was of less relative importance than having an interesting job and achieving work-life balance. See later on in this section, for a discussion of this difference.
2: Certain countries and demographics have a higher level of response for most or all items. Unlike in the case of Theme 2, where cultural knowledge indicates a likely difference in response patterns – we have to take this at face value. It does seem intuitively fairly plausible that in countries such as Romania and Russia workers will indeed have more difficult working lives. Equally, the fact that women and younger workers find work far more ‘problematic’ may have an attitudinal dimension, but more likely simply reflects their relatively oppressed position in the global workforce. 3: The biggest differences between countries emerge in levels of satisfaction with pay (particularly low in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE countries)), and the ‘care burden’ on workers (again, in CEE countries, workers are four times more likely than British workers to shoulder elderly-care responsibilities, and eight times more likely than Scandinavian workers).
Where are the world’s most demanding workers… and also, conversely, where are the world’s most willing workers?
Our data on the problems that workers face is useful on one level. But is it telling us more about the realities of workers’ lives, or about their attitudes to work? Can this explain the differences with the findings in Theme 1? When we looked at ‘raw’ levels of complaint, we’ll recall that workers in CEE and Asian countries generally had the highest levels. But, given that pay levels are in fact relatively low in CEE countries, and working hours are exceptionally long in South Asian countries, wouldn’t this be quite justifiable? A reasonable attitudinal measure, of how ‘demanding’ workers are, would surely be based on levels of complaint relative to actual working conditions. Put it another way: which workers are really hard done by, and who just think that they are?
Some of our ‘problems’ data, if placed alongside ILO and World Bank statistics, give us the opportunity to compare workers’ perceptions to global realities. We can look at two measures that cover all the countries in the study: 1: % who feel their pay is a problem (compared with actual average levels of income relative to the cost of living (Purchasing Power Parities))
2: % who feel their working hours are too long (compared with actual working hours) Let’s look at the results overleaf:
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Table: Worker complaints and the realities of work: 23 countries, pay and working hours Pay
Country
Overall ‘whinginess’ rank
% unhappy with pay
Actual income relative to cost of living
Pay whinge rank
France
1
43%
30540
2
Sweden
=2
35%
31420
6
UK
USA
Australia Portugal Canada Greece Poland
Germany Spain
Japan
=2 3
=4 =4 =5 =5 6
=7 =7
8
40% 38% 30% 42% 35% 40% 55% 33% 41%
38%
32690 41950 30610 19730 32220 23620 13490 29210 25820
31410
3 1
12 13 5
10 14 8 7
4
Working hours
% feeling working hours impinge on private life
Actual average weekly working hours
Hours whinge rank
35%
36.4
7
34% 38% 31% 44% 57% 28% 38% 45% 28% 28%
45%
8230
21
35%
Korea
Romania China
Russia
The Netherlands Thailand Ireland
=12 13 14 15
16 17
18
44%
59% 43% 61% 15% 32%
15%
This analysis of two very fundamental measures – pay and working hours – across 23 countries, and produces some fascinating findings. French the most demanding workers
In the overall measure, it is French workers who are most demanding, with UK and Swedish workers equal second, that is workers in these countries are most likely
24
33570 21850 8940 6600
10640
32480
8440
34720
15 9
18 22 17 20 23
19
39.8 39.8 34.5 35.2
10 5 3
12 13
34.5
11
22%
31.9
1
27%
Brazil
=12
39.1
2
17
33%
Denmark
34.8
11
34.9
16 11
39.6
24%
37080
40420
4
19
18%
23%
35.7
42.2
9
10
6
25%
Switzerland Norway
34.5
18%
31% 29% 17%
17%
30%
15%
to be dissatisfied despite their relative good fortune.
All our top five nations here show a fairly high level of worker complaint about both pay and hours, neither of which are actually particularly harsh in global terms. A slight exception here are US workers, who emerge as the third most ‘demanding’ in the world. Although they are quite happy to work
36.1
42
45.7
41.2 37.8 33.2
29.7
48.9
35.1
8
9
16 22 14 15 21
20
18
23
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long hours, the fact that US workers have by far the highest levels of income (relative to the cost of living) in the world, and yet almost four in ten feel that their pay is a problem, places them third. Compare US workers with Thai workers, for example – while real levels of income are more than eight times higher in the States, more workers in the US feel their pay is a problem than in Thailand. UK second most demanding
Workers in the UK come second overall (alongside Sweden) in our global ‘demanding workers’ league table. Again, as with the US, it is relatively high levels of dissatisfaction with pay despite what is, in global terms, a very good standard of living, that accounts for this. Perhaps there is something in the nature of US/UK society, with its competitive individualism and highly unequal wealth distribution, that accounts for this. This may provide support for the idea that such societies, characterised by consumerist and individualist ideologies, fail to convert their material wealth and benign working conditions into higher levels of satisfaction or happiness. The comparison with levels of worker dissatisfaction in Scandinavia, Northern Europe and Ireland is striking. Irish most willing workers
Looking to the other end of the scale now, it is Irish workers who emerge as the world’s most willing, simply because they are so unlikely to complain about their hours or pay – fewer than one in six employees in Ireland indicate a problem with either. Thai workers come a close second. Despite having the third lowest pay levels within the 23 countries, and the longest working hours (at a staggering 48.9 hours per week), Thai workers have lower than average levels of complaint on both counts.
in six saying hours are a problem and only 17% feeling pay is a problem – way below the levels seen in other countries aside from Ireland (see also the basic ‘problems’ data table on pages 21 and 22). Introducing holiday allowances into the analysis
An EIRO (2002) study gives us comparable data on average annual leave and public holidays, which intersects with 11 of the countries in our study, all of which are in Europe.
The table below sets out a comparison which we will now be familiar with – who complains most about the amount of time off they get, and who least? – and how does this compare with actual holiday time? Table: % of workers who feel that their holiday allowances are a problem and actual holiday allowances country
% feeling they don’t get enough holidays
Actual days annual leave & public holidays
Holiday whinge rank
UK Greece Spain Portugal Ireland France Sweden Norway Denmark Germany The Netherlands
37% 32% 29% 24% 13% 18% 14% 12% 9% 10% 8%
33.5 34 35 37.5 29 36 36 35 38.5 39.6 39.3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Workers in The Netherlands also emerge as some of the world’s most willing. Here (as in Ireland) it is not a case of great forbearance in the face of low pay and long hours – in fact, pay and hours are relatively good. The reason The Netherlands does so well is because workers there have exceptionally low levels of complaint, with fewer than one
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UK workers most holiday hungry
Among the 11 countries included here, it is UK workers who emerge as the most ‘holiday hungry’ – to be fair, overall holiday allowances in the UK are not generous by European standards, but the proportion of workers who are unhappy with their holiday allowance is almost three times higher than the European average in the UK, at 37%.
Compare, for example, Irish workers, who get four and a half days less than those in the UK, but are almost three times less likely to complain about it! In summary:
At a European level then, we find that:
• French workers are the most demanding about their pay (in both absolute and relative terms)
• Greek workers are the most demanding about their working hours (in both absolute and relative terms)
• UK workers are the most demanding about their holiday allowances (in both absolute and relative terms) Our overall, combined measure shows that workers in France and the UK are the most demanding (relative to reality – and in absolute terms, on the whole), while those in The Netherlands are the most content.
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About FDS International FDS International is a top 15 market research agency as posted in the Marketing league tables for 2006. Established in 1972, annual turnover in 2006 for FDS and its sister company, acefieldwork, was close to £6 million. A blue-chip customer base includes longstanding clients such as BT, British Gas and Yell in the commercial sector and UK central government clients such as the Office of Fair Trading, HM Revenue and Customs, Identity and Passport Service and Department for Work and Pensions.
A core area of specialism for FDS is customer satisfaction research, in both consumer and business segments, which accounts for over 60% of revenues and encompasses large continuous projects for BT and Jobcentre Plus. Research focuses on providing information that assists clients in creating a prioritised agenda for change and in post-implementation tracking. FDS also has a strong track record in mystery shopping, both physical and increasingly online, employee and communications research, using quantitative and qualitative techniques to derive genuine business insight for clients. A highly experienced research team carry out a range of sophisticated analysis using data gathered in-house through our own 100-seat telephone centre, online or by post. Where face-to-face research forms part of a project, sister company, acefieldwork carries out this work. FDS has quality accreditations and/or
industry membership with MRQSA, ISO 9001, MRS, ESOMAR and IQCS.
FDS is the UK representative in the IriS (International Research InstituteS) Network of global, independent research companies. More information on IriS can be found at www.iris-net.org.
In June 2006, FDS and acefieldwork were the subject of a management buy-in by a new marketing services group, Munro Global Limited (www.munroglobal.net). With backing from Electra Kingsway Venture Capital Trust funding, the MBI team comprised Charlotte Cornish (new MD) and Richard Hepburn (new CEO), who were joined on the Munro Global Board by three non-executive directors, Janet Weitz (original founder of FDS), Fiona Stewart (a former CEO of Opinion Leader Research) and Mark Speeks (Electra Kingsway representative). All the existing senior management teams within the FDS businesses remained in their current roles. For more information on FDS International visit www.fds.co.uk
FDS International Limited Hill House Highgate Hill London, N19 5NA +44 (0)207 272 7766 [email protected]
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FDS International Limited Hill House Highgate Hill London, N19 5NA +44 (0)207 272 7766 [email protected]
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